Could Blizzard and NetEase be making up after their original 14 year partnership ended more than a year ago? A new report says a deal is expected that would bring games like World of Warcraft back to China.
According to Chinese news site Sina.com and reported by the South China Morning Post, the two companies have been negotiating a new deal, set to be announced as early as Wednesday. Microsoft, which acquired Activision Blizzard back in the fall, is said to have opened up talks in a positive direction with NetEase late last year. If an announcement does come this week, it will take a little while for the companies to get everything up and running again. The Sina report cites a NetEase source saying summer might be the timeline to look for.
If all of this does happen, it would mark a significant shift from where we last saw these two companies. Of course, with the Microsoft acquisition, much has changed since that time.
The end of service came in China back in January 2023 for World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, StarCraft, and Diablo titles (except for Diablo Immortal, which NetEase developed in partnership with Blizzard). A WoW-universe set mobile title was canceled. The two parties could not come to an agreement on a new deal. Blizzard reportedly asked NetEase for a six-month extension of their contract, but NetEase rejected that offer and said that the offered terms for a new full contract were insufficient.
There were even some angry responses as video came out of employees toppling and destroying an Orc statue as games shut down and employees were laid off as a result. There were even a couple of lawsuits, but those have since been dropped.
With China one of the world’s largest gaming markets, it is in Microsoft’s interest to re-establish a deal there, so while the news does follow a not quite amicable parting, it seems terms are more favorable this time.
